


though it's been said many times, many ways

by missakwatson



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pre-Slash, Snowed In, Talia Hale & Claudia Stilinski Friendship, and Lydia, because it's California, mentions of Scott - Freeform, sleeted in actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21753895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missakwatson/pseuds/missakwatson
Summary: Stiles settled back onto the loveseat where he had been glued all evening. “What are you reading?”Derek looked up, still managing to appear startled even though Stiles knew he’d been aware of his every move.“I knew we had a journal that mentioned a kelpie. If this was the most recent sighting near Beacon Hills, it was around the same time of year, which could mean something.”Stiles chewed on the end of his pen as he flipped back through his own notes. “Cool. Whose journal?”Derek swallowed. “My mom’s.”***In which memories are shared, confessions are made, and Christmas birthdays are duly remembered.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 15
Kudos: 115
Collections: 12 Days of Sterek





	though it's been said many times, many ways

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever just... write something completely different than everything you possibly imagined setting out to write? Well, that happened, and now we have a slightly misty-eyed bit of getting-together fluff that prominently features Derek and Stiles' memories of Claudia and Talia. (What can I say — I love incorporating The Moms into fics, and I really went all in this time.)

_“We’ve just received word that portions of I-5 are closed from Redding up to as far north as O’Brien due to the number of high speed accidents that have occurred over the past three hours. We’ll now take you to the scene live…”_

Stiles groaned and placed the TV back on mute. It had been flickering silently in the background for hours, but he had just happened to look up in time to catch the latest weather report. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Derek emerged from his study, blinking owlishly at Stiles over another armful of decrepit hardcover volumes.

“What’s that?”

Stiles gestured at the window. “I guess neither of us noticed it was sleeting, huh?”

Derek carefully deposited the stack of books on the coffee table before moving to peer past the blinds. “Shit. I knew it was drizzling when you got here, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to hear when it turned into ice,” he said, absently wiping his dusty hands along the sides of his jeans.

“It’s not your fault. I haven’t even been keeping track of the — Jesus. It’s already 11.” Stiles’ phone — which he always kept silent anyway — had drifted to the bottom of a pile of PDF printouts during his research frenzy. As he scrolled through his notifications, he saw not one, but two severe storm warnings and a message from his father warning him to be careful on the road.

“I should—” Stiles started, gesturing with his phone.

“—I don’t think you should drive in this,” Derek blurted as he turned away from the window, interrupting Stiles.

Stiles huffed out a laugh. “Wasn’t planning on it. I was just going to call my dad and let him know that I’m going to stay put for a bit, if that’s cool with you.”

“Oh.” Derek looked surprised by Stiles’ agreement. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks, big guy.” Stiles clapped Derek gently on the arm as he moved into the kitchen to call his dad, absently registering the solid warmth of Derek’s body beneath his hand. _Don’t even go there,_ he scolded himself, quickly scrolling to the Sheriff's number and hitting the call button.

“Hey, kiddo. Thought maybe you were ignoring me there.”

“Never,” Stiles scoffed. “Sorry, I just saw your text. And the news. We were—”

“—yeah, I know. Researching the— what did you call it? A kelpie? Figures we’d have one of those running around in the dead of winter, of all times.”

“Yeah. Kelpie. Based on what he’s been hearing, Scott thinks it’s getting closer to Beacon County, and I wanted to read up before Lydia comes into town for New Years.” 

The Martin family was spending Christmas in Bali this year, but he knew Lydia would be sweeping into town within the next week and wanted to make sure they were ready to make a move to contain the creature if needed. The Hales’ archives — finally pulled out of storage and moved into the rebuilt Hale house a few years prior — had ample resources on such a well-documented creature, so falling into a research rabbit hole had proved easy.

“Anyway,” Stiles continued, “I was going to wait here and see if the sleet lets up.” 

John grunted in agreement. “If things are that bad on the highway, I’d rather you stay put. Road back into town won’t be any better. Tell Derek I said hi, and let me know if anything changes.”

Stiles turned back to face the living room, where Derek was now seated with his typical focused frown as he paged through one of the books he had brought with him on his latest venture into the study. “Will do.”

After he hung up the phone, Stiles settled back onto the loveseat where he had been glued all evening. “What are you reading?”

Derek looked up, still managing to appear startled even though Stiles knew he’d been aware of his every move.

“I knew we had a journal that mentioned a kelpie. If this was the most recent sighting near Beacon Hills, it was around the same time of year, which could mean something.”

Stiles chewed on the end of his pen as he flipped back through his own notes. “Cool. Whose journal?”

Derek swallowed. “My mom’s.”

 _Way to go, Stiles. Just the downer tonight needed_. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

Derek cut Stiles off with a short shake of his head. “It’s fine. I hadn’t thought about it in a while. It’s kind of… nice. To look back on.” Derek’s voice was gentle, a fond smile crossing his face. “I can hear her in my head when I read it.”

In all their years as acquaintances and even now, as pack members and frequent research collaborators, Derek and Stiles hardly ever spoke to each other about their mothers. Sure, Derek made offhand remarks about what he remembered of his mother’s role as Alpha, but nothing like this — never so far as showing Stiles her actual journal.

“My mom never kept a journal.” Stiles began haltingly. This was uncharted territory for them, he knew, but he was struck by the conviction that he _wanted_ to share this with Derek. He wanted someone else to know Claudia, if only through his own piecemeal memories. “She always said she would start, but she’d make it about a day before she gave up again. She loved writing notes, though. When my great-aunt died, back in Poland, we found this box of letters my mom sent her. Probably hundreds.” Stiles had nearly forgotten about the letters; he hadn’t touched them in years. He felt a sudden, unexpected yearning to hold them and remind himself that they were real.

“They were friends, you know,” Derek said, gesturing toward the journal laying open on the table.

“Our moms?” 

Stiles’ eyebrows shot up as Derek nodded. It didn’t surprise him; Talia and Claudia were close in age, and they had both spent most of their lives in Beacon Hills. He even had a vague memory of Derek’s mother stopping by their home once or twice, but he hadn’t paid much attention to his mother’s social life as a child, and the fire devastated the Hale family before Claudia got sick. 

“She mentioned getting lunch with your mom a few times. I’m not sure how close they were, but I can tell my mom trusted her.”

Stiles felt a lump rise in his throat. Thinking about his mom had gotten easier over the years, little by little, but learning about this new piece of her life, however small, struck him. He blinked back tears and gestured toward the journal. “Can I take a look?”

“Of course.” 

Stiles avoided Derek’s gaze, somehow afraid that he might see his own sudden sorrow reflected back. It felt good to talk about his mother with someone who understood, but, in a way, it almost made him feel even more vulnerable.

As Stiles began flipping through the pages of the well-loved notebook, Derek cleared his throat. “Do you want something to drink? I know it’s late, but I was thinking about making some tea.”

Stiles knew Derek was probably just looking for something to do to diffuse the tension, but he didn’t mind. It was one of the things he had come to appreciate about this older, more mature version of Derek that had returned to Beacon Hills three years ago: his ability to intuit others’ emotions and acknowledge them through actions, not just words.

“Tea would be great.”

Stiles paged through Talia’s journal carefully, occasionally squinting to decipher her looping cursive or smiling at an aside she’d scribbled about one of her children. As Derek had indicated, he found his own mother’s name noted in a few different entries.

 _“Getting lunch with Claudia_ ~~_Zajac_ ~~ _Stilinski today. We haven’t talked much since high school, but I’m excited to see her again.”_

 _“I still can’t believe Claudia married a_ _cop_ _, but she laughed about it too. I know John is different (felt bad lying to him about the “mountain lions” in the Preserve), but I still made fun of her.”_

_“Claudia’s pregnant!!!”_

Stiles felt his throat tighten again. It was strange to see parts of his own life reflected in someone else’s private thoughts, sandwiched between grocery lists and methodical notes over werewolf territory disputes. But it was gratifying, too, to know about all the versions of Claudia that existed to others.

As he neared the middle of the notebook, he saw the entry Derek flagged with a Post-It note:

_“Thursday, Dec. 23. A kelpie decided to take up residence in Bailey Cove. I felt bad chasing it off, but I would feel even worse if someone got hurt. Peter called me overly sentimental about the whole thing, but Thomas understood what I meant. I’m just glad we got it taken care of. No time to deal with this when I have to finish getting everything ready for Derek’s birthday on Saturday — still haven’t ordered the cake!!”_

Stiles smiled. “I think your mom was more worried about your birthday than the kelpie, dude,” he called to Derek. 

Derek laughed as he returned to the living room. He carefully set down two steaming mugs and settled next to Stiles on the sofa. “She always worried about my birthday. I think she was afraid I’d develop a complex. Cora and Laura always got mad because she’d make us spend at least an hour cutting a birthday cake and opening birthday presents.”

Learning that Derek’s birthday was on Christmas had shocked Stiles into silence the first time he heard it all those years ago. The knowledge that the sourest, eyebrow-iest person he knew was a _Christmas baby_ was almost too much to take seriously. At the time, though, Derek predictably refused to acknowledge the humor, leaving Stiles alone to ponder the irony of the universe.

Stiles hummed thoughtfully as he took a sip of his tea. “When is Cora getting back in town, anyway?” She was still an honorary member of their pack group text, but she hardly ever replied, which meant Stiles was only vaguely aware of her whereabouts at any given time.

Derek sighed. “She’s not. She’s spending this year in Paris.” 

“With Isaac, or just because?”

“With Isaac.” 

Well. _That_ was a new development. Stiles’ interest in Cora’s personal life was quickly pushed aside, though, when he realized what Derek’s words implied.

“But you’re staying in town? Do you have any plans?”

Derek winced, the expression nearly imperceptible. Stiles caught it, though, and it made his heart sink.

“No, not really.” Derek shrugged and took a sip of his drink. 

No matter how nonchalant he appeared, though, Stiles resolved that he wasn’t going to let Derek spend his birthday alone unless he insisted. It had nothing to do with what Scott annoyingly referred to as Stiles’ “totally unresolved pining” for Derek — no, he would do the same for any of his friends, obviously. Well, most of them. At least Scott. And maybe Lydia, if she asked.

“We should do something. If you want. We could see a movie. Or… watch a movie at home. I can’t really think of what else to do on Christmas besides eat.”

The corner of Derek’s mouth quirked. “Don’t you have plans with your dad?”

“You know we’re mostly Hanukkah people. We’ll probably watch TV and order in and I’ll pretend to get mad at dad for ordering in, but that’s it. You can come over, if you want. Or I can come here, if you’d rather do that.” Stiles sighed. “I just… you shouldn’t be alone. Unless you want to be alone. Obviously. I know my company isn’t always in high demand.”

Derek smiled, and the openness on his face made Stiles’ breath catch. “I enjoy your company, Stiles.” 

“Well. That’s good to hear, after three years of friendship.” 

Stiles laughed, willing his voice to sound even and carefree, but Derek just frowned in response. Stiles knew Derek must have heard the stutter of his heartbeat, but it wasn’t an outright lie — just an acknowledgement of the longing Stiles always felt for _more_ of Derek’s approval and companionship.

“I’m serious, Stiles. It means a lot to me that you asked. I like spending time with you. I— I always have. I know I’m not always great at showing it, but… I really do.”

“I like spending time with you too,” Stiles replied softly, knowing his heartbeat would reveal nothing but sincerity behind his words. 

Somewhere, Stiles noted, the feeling in the air had grown charged. On the surface their conversation was casual, but they were both speaking too carefully, aware of the significance underpinning their words.

Derek carefully set his mug down on the coffee table and inhaled deeply. “I’ve never known how to say this to you, and the timing has never felt right — and maybe it still isn’t right, but I… I always wanted this.”

“To be friends?”

“ _You_ , Stiles. Wanted _you_.” Derek’s voice trembled, but his gaze was resolute. Stiles felt it searching his own, wide-eyed and _wanting_. Derek slowly moved his hand so his fingers just barely overlapped with Stiles’ — hesitantly, like he was approaching a wild animal he was afraid of spooking. “You know what my life has been like. You know how hard it is for me to trust anyone — how hard it is for me to let myself get close to someone else. But I trust you, Stiles. More than anyone. You remember _everyone_ , Stiles. And it’s been a really long time since I’ve felt like I’m worth remembering.”

Stiles felt a tear roll down his cheek, unbidden. What had started as a night like any other, hunched over documents and researching in companionable silence, had shifted dramatically as they revealed the extent of their trust in one another. Stiles didn’t talk about Claudia with anyone, and he knew Derek rarely spoke so plainly about his own emotions.

Stiles’ silence stretched another breath, and Derek’s withdrew his hand. “God. I’m sorry. That was way too much. I’m so—”

“No,” Stiles interjected. “Don’t say you’re sorry.” He quickly rubbed his hand over his cheek and shook his head as if the gesture would clear his thoughts. “Not if you mean it. Derek, I—” Stiles inhaled, steadying himself. “I trust you too. And I want you. In every way. In all the ways,” he said with a soft laugh. This time, he was the one to reach for Derek’s hand, placing it firmly in his own. 

Derek swept a thumb over Stiles’ knuckles and nodded. “So we’re on the same page, then?” he offered with a hesitant smile.

Stiles leaned in closer to rest his head on Derek’s shoulder. “Yeah, Derek. I think we are.”

**Author's Note:**

> WOW thank you for reading! I hope you have a lovely holiday season if that's when you're reading this! Feel free to join me on [tumblr](https://softderekhale.tumblr.com/) any time!!!


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